Saturday, July 31, 2010

Well, after a long wait, I finally have pictures of my living room and dining room. We still need to get the curtains hung in the dining room, but all of the artwork is up. I’m so happy with our little cottage, it is so gorgeous and we finally have room to sprawl. Here are a few pictures. God Bless!

Sorry, the ugly A/C is in that picture, but it keeps me happy and cool in the summer :-)

I adore this window!

A view of the living room through the dining room.

My happy rose bush. It has just been beautiful to watch it bloom. It was a little sad when we moved here, but after some love it is giving gorgeous roses.

That’s all for now. I’m going to be busy gardening and sewing today. Have a lovely weekend!

Friday, July 30, 2010

I finally have been kicking things into high gear in the sewing department. Now that we are fairly settled, I feel that I can finally start my beloved hobby again. As you have seen from my previous post, I am working on a Riding Habit for a dear friend. It is coming along very nicely, and I hope to have some pictures soon.

I also will be needing a Riding Habit for an event we have coming up in September. I just can't make up my mind as to the style I want. Here are a few of the ideas I have come up with...

A Redingote Style

The ever beautiful Lady Worsley and her lovely habit.

A later high waisted style.

I have a lovely black wool and a grey wool to play with and I don't know which style I want...

I'm so excited to finally be working on a new project. This time, however, it is a commission from a dear friend. I hope to document the process and keep you all informed. Here is the pictures of what I hope to be creating for her. It's the riding habit/ uniform from the Duchess.

I started drafting the pattern last night. So far it is going well. I hope to cut the muslin out tonight and start draping the bodice. God Bless!!!
Love Lauren

Monday, July 26, 2010

Hello friends and readers. I hope your week is going well. We had some more doggy drama this week. Leila ended up with a nasty infection on her neck and wound up back in the puppy ER. After some good drugs and some loves she is slowly beginning to mend.

On a more fun note, we had a lovely picnic on Sunday with the ORS and Le Bon Ton at Pittock Mansion. It was great fun and the weather stayed cool for most of the morning. Here are a few pictures. Enjoy!

Colonel and Mme de Valois

Captain and Mrs. Cartwright

Sir and Lady Sully( yes we’re silly) enjoying the delights of the season.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

I hope you are having a great week so far and are enjoying your summer. We moved our furniture into the new house on Saturday, with the help of some very dear friends. Aaron and I decided to put the dogs in the backyard while the furniture was being moved. That way they were out of the way and not frightened by the chaos. I, unfortunately had to work that day, although only three hours, and didn't arrive at the new house until around 2 that afternoon. When I got their, I decided to head around to the side of the yard and say hi to the pups through the fence. Now, normally, our dogs are fairly clean and they don't have bad breath. Well, not so that day; those two reeked to high heaven. I ignorantly assumed it was due to their running around and playing all day in the yard. Well, after a lovely lunch at a local restaurant we returned and the girls were dying to see the backyard. To our surprise and horror, we found the source of aforementioned nasty smell. Little Miss Leila had found a raccoon buried in the back yard. It had been dead about 2 months and smelled lovely. She decided what else could be better than gnawing on it's leg. Max thought it smelled so good he needed to roll in it. It was nasty.

Well, needless to say, they had a bath and a mouth wash, which helped but they still kind of stank. Anyway, we decided to put them in the kitchen to dry while we proceeded to unpack. About an hour or so later, we smelled that lovely dead raccoon smell wafting upstairs where we were working. Leila have vomited the portion she ate and decided it tasted so good she needed to eat the vomit. Oh, yeah, it was nasty and the whole house reeked. We ran to the store to get air fresheners and opened every window we could. Luckily the smell dissipated very quickly.

Everything seemed to calm down until around 10:30 that night. Aaron and I were still unpacking and organizing when we noticed Leila didn't look so good. Poor girl had a slight fever and her tummy was bloated. She also was not her normal perky, goofy self, and she looked very pitiful. We called the ER vet and they said to bring her in. We arrived at the vet around 11:00 that night and Leila, though not feeling well, proceeded to kiss the faces of the vet and the vet techs. They said she was very sweet and happy, but her kisses smelled nasty. To top things off she was farting the whole way there and at the vet's office. Nasty, nasty. Anyway, they pumped her full of meds and fluids and sent her on her way. We received a copy of her chart and under personality they wrote "Mentally Appropriate". Clearly they don't know her very well. Thankfully it was just an upset tummy and after a few days of rest she has been set to rights. We definitely don't want to repeat that anytime soon, although it was funny after the fact and it does make for a great story :-D

The Perpetrator, Leila Lu...

The Accomplice, Max...

Well, that's all I have for today. Have a blessed rest of your week. We have an event this weekend so I should have some new pics soon. God Bless!

Thursday, July 15, 2010

I found this on Wikipedia while reading aboutLuise Princess of Mecklenburg. This was a series of doodles she drew around 1795. I just love bits of history like this. I wonder if she knew her random doodling would end up in a museum one day. It reminds me of my college notebooks, I would doodle while taking notes to help stay focused.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

We had a wonderful Bastille Day Celebration this year. It was a little on the warm side, but not nearly as hot as it had been earlier in the week. We had wonderful food, libations, and games. The games consisted of Historical Combat and a live action game of Guillotine, a card game.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Things have been CRAZY in Portland House, well both Portland Houses, lately. We are moving and I feel like today is the first day I have actually sat down for any stretch of time. Anywhoo, we had a lovely time at our Bastille Day Party. Here's a sneak peak with more to come, I promise....

Monday, July 05, 2010

Today we went over to the new house with the pups and birdy boy in tow. We moved some smaller boxes and my costume supplies in too. It was a lovely day. I also had a nice chance to snap some pictures before we move all of our stuff in. Enjoy!

Birdy Boy in the back yard enjoying the outdoors. He made a number of friends today. He and the birds in the neighborhood were chatting up a storm.

Doggies love their new yard. They had so much fun exploring and running around.